The elephant and ivory trade in Thailand (PDF, 800 KB) - Traffic

More documents

Recommendations

Info

a large antiques/souvenirs centre had 16 outlets with 462 ivory items, mostly antiques. One of the outlets in this centre was a temporary auction that included 25 antique ivory items. Sukhumvit Road – This long road is a main shopping area for tourists, business visitors and Thais, but only seven outlets were found with ivory. Most were jewellery shops and two were so-called antique shops, though few of the items appeared to be genuinely old. Silom/Suriwongse Roads – Seven of the outlets with 51 ivory items were found in a tourist plaza located in front of the Montien Hotel. These outlets consisted of small amulet and antique shops. A shop in a luxury hotel displayed a polished tusk and a Thai Buddha, but the vendor said that these were not for sale. A shopping galleria next to the Holiday Inn contained four outlets selling 98 ivory items, but many of the shops were closed for the King’s birthday holiday during the time of the survey, so more might be found there on a normal working day. The other four outlets were jewellery shops. Hotels – A total of 66 four- and five-star hotels were surveyed. Of these, seven (11%) hotels had eight shops associated with them that contained 1352 ivory items. One hotel, the Intercontinental, had two shops selling ivory in the President’s Tower shopping arcade. Table 12 presents a breakdown of the ivory found in hotel shops. Table 12. Retail ivory found in Bangkok hotel shops, 2006/2007 Hotel Shop name Number of items Indra Regent Mona Lisa 48 Intercontinental Best Souvenir 75 CLV 1 Menam Good Service 614 Shangri-la Pat’s Arts & Crafts 198 Oriental Lamont 8 Tawana Sandy 21 White Orchid Sirichai 189 TOTAL 8 1352 Siam Centre – Several large department stores in the large shopping area around Siam Centre and the Narai Phand market contained five ivory outlets selling 56 ivory items, mainly belt buckles and knife handles. Of the 8756 items (out of 11 333 total in Bangkok) that could be attributed to place of manufacture, the overwhelming majority were made in Thailand (7880 pieces, 90%), followed by China (608 pieces, 7%), other South-East Asian countries (159 pieces, 2%), India (73 pieces, 0.8%), Europe (17 pieces), Japan (13 pieces) and Africa (six pieces). Table 13 presents a price list of the main types of ivory items seen in Bangkok. The elephant and ivory trade in Thailand 34
There was quite remarkable variability in the prices of similar type items, determined primarily by where the ivory was sold and the age of the item. For example, a plain bangle measuring one centimetre in diameter varied in price from USD51-USD229. In wholesale circumstances, shops in Chatuchak Market or at the OTOP exhibit determined the price of a bangle by measuring the diameter with calipers. Prices ranged from THB150-200/mm (USD4.30-5.70/mm), or USD43-57 for a one-cm diameter bangle. A similar one-cm bangle in a jewellery store in the Old Siam department store was priced at USD229, though in most shops this bangle ranged from USD100-150. The most expensive item found in Bangkok was a 77-cm long Thai-style reclining Buddha set on a magnificent gilded wooden stand priced at one million THB (USD28 170). The piece was in a River City antique shop, and said to have been created in the 19 th century. The quality of the ivory workmanship was mediocre; age seemed to be the determining factor. Table 13. Prices for ivory items in Bangkok, 2006/2007 Type Size (cm) Price USD JEWELLERY Bangle 0.5 20-486 1 51-229 2 214-257 3 200 Earring, pair 31-90 Necklace, small bead 70-80 69-343 Necklace, large bead 45 63-77 Pendant 1 3-14 2-4 6-71 5-7 69-114 Ring, plain 3-20 FIGURINE Human 5-10 129-1000 11-20 514-5714 21-30 929-10 000 31-40 1375-8571 50 1 371 Animal 5-10 51-140 11-20 457-879 Netsuke 3 100 5-9 286 Phallus 6-7 20-109 12-18 43-257 The elephant and ivory trade in Thailand 35
Page 1 and 2: THE ELEPHANT AND IVORY TRADE IN THA
Page 3 and 4: THE ELEPHANT AND IVORY TRADE IN THA
Page 5 and 6: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The staff of the T
Page 7 and 8: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Asian Elephants a
Page 9 and 10: • Thailand illegally imports many
Page 11 and 12: BACKGROUND Asian Elephants Elephas
Page 13 and 14: INTRODUCTION The demand for ivory a
Page 15 and 16: Comprehensive analyses of ETIS reco
Page 17 and 18: The presence and type of ivory subs
Page 19 and 20: This, of course, may not be easy to
Page 21 and 22: Daniel Stiles/TRAFFIC Southeast Asi
Page 23 and 24: Table 1. (continued) Elephant camps
Page 25 and 26: D C F U I O Appendix-I specimens br
Page 27 and 28: Table 2. (continued) Live Asian Ele
Page 29 and 30: In all, at least 66 of the 235 (28%
Page 31 and 32: Table 5. (continued) Seizures of il
Page 33 and 34: one craftsman working near Khao San
Page 35 and 36: The visit to Phayuha Kiri to interv
Page 37 and 38: Table 6. Number of ivory carvers an
Page 43: Daniel Stiles/TRAFFIC Southeast Asi
Page 47 and 48: Chiang Mai A total of 26 outlets se
Page 49 and 50: THB150 (USD4.30), while in Bangkok
Page 51 and 52: supporting the view of informants w
Page 53 and 54: The TRAFFIC/WWF briefing document t
Page 55 and 56: Despite the efforts detailed in Tha
Page 57 and 58: kilogrammes cost from USD286-429/kg
Page 59 and 60: Table 19 presents a comparison of r
Page 61 and 62: law, but the proportion cannot be e
Page 63 and 64: Appendix 1.Thailand and the Elephan
Page 65 and 66: Table 1: ETIS records for number of
Page 67 and 68: Buddhas, Nanggwak and singhas. Boon
Page 69 and 70: Dublin, H., Milliken, T. and Barnes
Page 71 and 72: Stiles, D. (2004a). The ivory trade
Page 73: The elephant and ivory trade in Tha

The elephant and ivory trade in Thailand (PDF, 800 KB) - Traffic

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?